There's "A Madman in the House," by Knoll Buddy

And the Marion County, Iowa Democrats held their odd-year caucus on Saturday...

About 55-60 Democrats gathered at the Knoxville, Iowa Public Library on Saturday to discuss issues, decide priorities, and elect new representatives to the Central Committee from each precinct.

In her email to us about the event, Louise Esveld put it better than I can:

On March 8, the Marion County Democrats will organize to step up in our fight to save our beloved democracy. Every one of us is called to do what we can to ensure we, our children, and our grandchildren have the freedoms, rights, and privileges our founding fathers envisioned and that we have so cherished. We need new leaders, fresh ideas, and willing hands.

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Among the powerful pro-people, pro-democracy speakers were Megan Day (l) and Spencer Waugh (r). All of the leaders of our county Democratic parties across the state are my heroes, including Megan and Spencer, here in Marion and Warren counties. And Louise, Jan, Cheryl, Susan, Suzie, Sheila, David, Scott, and Steve, and so many more. Sorry if I forgot someone.

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I was asked to speak and didn’t have the time or inclination to prepare because for whatever reasons I don’t do that anymore, so I just spoke from the heart, thanking our leadership and everyone who came.

I remember that I talked about giving grace to our Republican friends, neighbors, and loved ones who are about to suffer just like the rest of us from Trump and Musk’s cruelty when they are soon to learn they were lied to by Trump, Musk, and MAGA media. I also spoke about leading with our values, and the need to recognize that voting isn’t enough. We need to engage in the resistance by doing things. Real things. Talking to people. Writing letters to the editor, postcards, knocking doors, etc. as we focus on our values and find joy in the resistance by recognizing where we should best focus our talents to defend our way of life.

We don’t have to try to do everything and feel overwhelmed. We just have to do more than vote. Something where we can play a valuable role in the movement.

Why? Because when our children and grandchildren ask us years from now what we did when the MAGA fascists and their billionaire handlers came for our country and people we love we can say we fought with every tool and talent we have.

I also shared, as the best I could remember, the words of Poet Maya Angelou, which she shared at Drake University in 2009. A video is here. I told them that whenever they meet challenges, to remember that they are not alone. That all of us in the room, and many others, stand with them, arm in arm. Or something like that. Here is a transcription of what Angelou said when asked if she ever was uncomfortable stepping into a moment.

“and one of the things I do, when I step up on a stage, when I stand up to translate, when I go to teach my classes, when I go to direct a movie, I bring everyone who has ever been kind to me with me. Black, white, Asian, Spanish speaking, Native American, gay, straight, everybody—I said come with me I'm going on the stage. Come with me I need you now. Long dead. You see? So I don't ever feel I have no help. I've had rainbows in my clouds.”

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I met Knoll Buddy (a pseudonym) at the Marion County Democratic Soup Luncheon a month or so ago. At that event, he said he had something to show me and left me a slip of paper with his email and a URL on it. Of course, it’s in a pile of papers on my cluttered desk at home and I never got to it. When the meeting ended on Saturday, Knoll Buddy invited me to the back of the room to show me a video he made.

It’s a protest video and song for our time. I asked Knoll Buddy to write something up about the video, and I would share it here, and I proudly do so. Below is what he wrote, and the video follows.

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I once heard Bob Leonard say when someone asked him, “ How can I help politically?” Bob said, “Do what you’re good at, what brings you joy and makes you happy.” He said, “Some people are good knocking on doors, some making phone calls, some running for office or doing organization.” Bob is a writer; that’s what he does best. I’m a singer-songwriter. I have been for years, and when I finally got a computer to record all these songs, I found iMovie and started making music videos to entertain my friends ( all eight or nine of them.)

When I was younger these were songs about love, or lack of it. As I got older, I really had nothing much more to write about. I was and am a big fan of John Lennon, the Beatles, and Bob Dylan. From them I learned the message of love, and standing up when you believe people are wrong. “Gimme Some Truth” by John Lennon and “The Times they are a Changing” by Bob Dylan, for example.

So that’s what I do ( or try to). I just want to reach out to folks who think the way I do. Or, if they don’t, try to change their minds to see that Trump and Musk are Mad Men and far worse than the insurrectionists that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2020.

Trump always talks about the enemy within. Well, the enemy within is Trump and all Republicans who support this megalomaniac. They are the enemy within, or in the words of Bob Dylan, “Come senators, congressmen, please heed the call. Don’t stand in the doorway, don’t block up the hall. For he (her/them) that gets hurt will be he (her/them) that have stalled, while outside the battle is raging, will soon shake your windows and rattle your walls. For the times, they are a changing.”

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Here is Knoll Buddy’s video.

Share, and maybe we can make the video go viral—Knoll Buddy is spot on.

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My content will always be free, as for over 60 years the words of Simon and Garfunkle in their 1964 song, “The Sound of Silence” have influenced me, “the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls,” and I’m not going to paywall them out should they be interested in my writing. My favorite version is by “Disturbed.”

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I’m a proud member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Please check out our work here. Subscribe! Become a paid subscriber if you can afford it. Please and thank you. We need you. Thanks for being part of the team! Want to buy me lunch or a cup of coffee? Venmo @Robert-Leonard-238. My friend Spencer Dirks and I have a podcast titled The Iowa Revolution. Check it out! We can get ornery. And have fun! I also publish Cedar Creek Nature Notes, about Violet the Dog and my adventures on our morning walks at Cedar Bluffs Natural Area in Mahaska County, Iowa.

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